Nursing Malpractice: Liability and Risk Management

Students and professional nurses at any level of clinical practice will find this book to be a vital resource on the basic legal concepts and principles of malpractice, liability, and risk management, and their implications for the profession. The book also provides detailed strategies for dealing with these issues. The content is also highly relevant to practitioners in all other health care and legal disciplines that collaborate in the delivery of health care. Issues discussed include the expanding and evolving roles for professional nurses and the concomitant legal accountability and risk for liability, the increasing incidence of nurses named as defendants in malpractice lawsuits, anticipated changes in our health care delivery system, and breakthroughs in science and technology that will present new legal questions. The book also includes material on other important facets of today's nursing practice, including the growing phenomenon of tele-nursing, the essentials of malpractice insurance, and the legal significance of documentation and patients' medical records. It helps the reader identify the nurse at risk for a malpractice suit and the characteristics of the patient likely to sue. The appendices provide information on state laws concerned with access to medical records, a list of useful websites, a list of state boards of nursing, and a glossary of important terms.

Preface The Law Malpractice Defenses in Malpractice Standards of Nursing Care The Nurse at Risk for a Malpractice Lawsuit The Legal Process Surviving Notification of a Nursing Malpractice Lawsuit Preparing for and Surviving a Deposition and Trial Defensive Documentation The Medical Record as Evidence in Nursing Malpractice Legal Implications of Informed Consent Legal Implications of Advance Directives and No-Code Orders Malpractice Insurance The National Practitioner Data Bank Disciplinary Actions by State Boards of Nursing under Nurse Practice Acts Roles of the Professional Nurse in the Legal Process Appendices Bibliography Index